Based on the vehicle parked to the right of the building and the open space beside it (further right) I’m guessing this post card is from the late 1950s? The OSU Ice Rink was built in 1961 and doesn’t appear to be present yet when the photo was taken. Since St. John Arena opened in 1956 my guess would seem to be close to the truth.

…posted by Mike Pearson, who daily provides Big 10 twitter and the world beyond w/an insane number of tweets about Big Ten sports history and its legends. (How does he get all of that done?)

(Left to right, that’s freshman Michael Redd shooting the rock, Jon Sanderson-Current Michigan basketball strength and conditioning trainer, and Ken Johnson, versus Vanderbilt in 1997 in a game played in St. John Arena)

Just hearing Michael Redd’s name reminds me of what a unique offensive player he was for Ohio State. As Mike Pearson reminds us Michael had NBA game. He worked hard to play at that level and was known for his outside shooting prowess ( An overall NBA 3-point % of .383 in 11 seasons) which enabled him to earn a Gold Medal with the U.S. team in the 2008 Olympics held in Beijing, China.

At Ohio State, however, Mike was a so-so 3-point marksman. Call him streaky.

He shot .303% his freshman season, .341% as a sophomore & then .314% as a junior.

What made Michael Redd unique was his ability to score against anyone & everyone if he was isolated at the free throw line against an opponent’s defense.

I’d use the terms ‘unorthdox’ and ‘uncanny’ to describe his array of offensive maneuvers. His dribble drives were herky-jerky journeys of spins, fakes, twists and curls to find slight cracks and weaknesses in opposing defensive schemes. The shots he took in the middle of those were often backboard banks put up from improbable angles with Minnesota Fats panache.

Teams didn’t dare guard him one on one. That was a no-no because he bewildered the very best of defenders. He was too slippery and effective inside the lane and around the basket to allow him carte blanche versus any opponent.

Just ask Ron Artest, 6’6 St. Johns Red Storm’s vaunted all round beast of a player, who was especially noted for his toughness and defensive shut down capabilities. In Ohio State’s 77-74 NCAA Regional Final win over St. Johns in Knoxville, Tennessee, Redd went over, around and through an continually off-balance Artest to score 20 points on 8/17 FGs, 3/4 three-pointers and 1/3 FTs. (Scoonie Penn w/22 pts in that game and Ken Johnson registered seven blocked shots)

Ron Artest would go on to be known as Metta World Peace (Memories of World B. Free are flooding my head) at the NBA level. He was named the 2004 NBA Defensive POY and was a two time NBA 1st team All Defender and a two time NBA 2nd Team All Defender.

So Redd didn’t just take apart any average player.

These are some of the thoughts that went through my mind yesterday.

(Someday I hope to figure out how to convert my Ohio State VCR tapes of the men’s and women’s teams to post them here as media. If you’ve never seen a single move Michael Redd made at Ohio State you are missing out on something.)

In the very small sample I was able view Justin Ahrens in this past July at the Peach Jam I can understand Force’s assessment. He’s long, athletic and has a “Sheriff Bing-Bing-Bing Richochet Rabbit” quick trigger shooting the basketball.

Jon Diebler was mentioned as a comparison for Justin in the Steve Helwagen story below. Remember how quick “Diebs” got the ball out of the holster and depth he shot the ball from? I see that in Justin Ahrens.

Ohio State 2007-2008 season / Versus North Carolina in Columbus at the Schott / Jon Diebler FGs 7-16 and 5-14 on threes…some of those attempts by Jon were from Ohio Stadium…a couple from that depth went in…I see that in Justin Ahrens…

Difference? Jon Diebler worked hard to make himself into a threat driving the basketball and finishing at the rim at the college level. Justin Ahrens comes blessed with a level up ability in that area.

247’s Steve Helwagen throws down a story with a nice Ohio State vibe where not only Justin Ahrens shows the kind of interest Buckeye fans like to read about but where Ahrens mentions he and Darius Bazley “…could be a package deal…” and the name of Jon Diebler comes up.